Mama Johnson

Mama Johnson was a resident of rural Georgia during the mid-20th century. She was born to a poor family of African-American sharecroppers, and she only had a second-grade education; she was left alone to take care of her children Dee and Maggie Johnson. Maggie was severely injured when their old home burned down, leaving her insecure; Dee later left in 1967 and did not return for six years, becoming a Muslim and a member of the Black Power movement. When she returned with her husband Hakeem-a-barber in 1973, she announced that her new name was "Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo", and Mama realized that her daughter had disowned her old identity due to her belief that it was whitewashed. Mama was upset that her daughter forgot where her old home was, that she left her old faith and joined the Nation of Islam, and that she wanted to take the family's churn top and old quilt for decorations at her home. Ultimately, Mama refused to give her daughter any of the family heirlooms, as they were instead supposed to be given to Maggie when she married.